Jones County campus to expand with greenhouse

Monday

A local college campus will expand its continuing education program by adding a greenhouse to the campus.

The move is expected in the next two months, according to Lenoir Community College Business Manager Bruce Parson.

“Jones County is a very agricultural county,” he said. “There’s a lot of knowledge there about agriculture, and there are a lot of people who I’m sure will continue (it). There will be continued agriculture programs in Jones County for a long, long time.”

Neuse Sports Shop recently donated its unused greenhouse to LCC’s main campus after the business wanted to repurpose the space, so Parson reached out to colleagues to see if there was a need for the old facility.

Renee Sutton, LCC Jones County Center director, said the opportunity was ideal.

“Because there is such a strong agriculture base (in Jones County), we’d thought this would be a great fit,” she said. “We have had a lot of interest from the public. … I have a feeling this will be a very popular program.”

There wasn’t much need for a greenhouse, which will facilitate horticulture instruction, on the Greene County campus.

The curriculum will likely be general, starting with introductory landscape, planting and gardening courses.

“If there’s a demand, we’ll just broaden the scope of the offering down there,” Parson said. “We’re student-driven. … We try to be really flexible.”

This will be the first type of agriculturally-base instruction offered at the Jones County Center.

The old greenhouse is already being prepped to move to the Jones campus. The college will be responsible for the cost of erecting the 2,400-sqaure-foot building and preparing the site for construction.

Kinston’s LCC campus will pay to dismantle the property and bring in the new one, which measures 4,800-square-feet. Parson said the horticulture program at the college took years to build, so the expansion won’t be wasted.

Jessika Morgan can be reached at 252-559-1078 or at jessika.morgan@kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessikaMorgan.

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